Eze Castle Integration's Blog

There’s a lot to fear in the cyber world: rogue nation states, professional cyber criminals and would-be hacktivists, just to name a few. Their weapons of choice vary in scope and substance, but regardless of the threat actor, investment management firms must employ rigid and resilient protections to ward off the equally sophisticated cyber threats that continue to surface. During a webinar earlier this year in which we detailed various levels of cybersecurity firms should consider, we...

When it comes to cybersecurity there are many factors that you need to be conscious of. During a recent webinar, speakers from Eze Castle Integration and Wolf & Company shared 10 of the most common cybersecurity gaps identified during an IT audit/risk assessment. We’ve listed the top 10 below and shared some particulars on a few of the most critical (in our opinion). For more detail on how these gaps are presenting themselves – and also best practices for avoiding them –...

Do you remember the Nokia 3310? C’mon, you know which one I’m talking about. It was that indestructible T9 phone that was a must-have back in the 2000s. It was a huge seller primarily due to its long battery life and its durability (as a result of its unique casing). Now more than 17 years after its original debut, the Nokia 3310 is being relaunched. Set to release in Q2 of 2017 we’re curious to see the hype behind this new, but old phone. After scouring the Internet,...

As April 18th (US) and April 30th (Canada) near, cyber scammers are pulling out all their tax scams to trick consumers and capitalize on the flurry of activity. Our friends over at Proofpoint say that “this year, [they have] tracked malware distribution in addition to the customary phishing schemes among the email threats related to federal taxes.” The IRS is also urging people to remember that “the IRS doesn't initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or...

This article first appeared on Hedgeweek and Private Equity Wire as part of Eze Castle Integration's Technology Resource Center. Outsourcing has not only become an accepted practice among hedge fund managers, it has become a necessity as funds large and small seek out ways to control their costs, manage their internal resources more effectively, and overcome the ever growing challenge of regulatory compliance. Perhaps more than ever before, hedge fund managers recognise that as cloud...

The technology treadmill is a tough place to be these days. Technology refresh cycles last only a mere three years, forcing firms to replace their infrastructures and make costly software and hardware upgrades on a too-frequent basis. And with hedge fund budgets tighter than ever, many firms cannot afford to stay on this path. But the hedge fund technology treadmill is not a firm’s only option. Costly in-house, 'traditional' IT services have given way to more cost-effective...

The following article originally appeared in HFMWeek's Cyber Compliance Focus. It’s not enough to have strong security policies. And it’s not enough to have robust technologies in place to ward off cyber threats. In truth, it’s not even enough to have both of these. An effective cybersecurity program, rather, can only be achieved through a consistent and comprehensive strategy that touches layers across the entirety of the organization – from perimeter security and...

Traditionally, hedge funds and private equity firms have allocated significant capital budgets to build out their own sophisticated Communication (Comm.) Rooms, which can take months to provision and bring online. With servers to buy and install, software to license and configure, and voice/networks to deploy – not to mention recruiting, hiring, and managing expensive and hard-to-find IT talent – it’s no wonder cloud solutions have emerged as the dominant choice for computing...

Post-launch, many hedge funds and investment firms struggle to gain ground and attract the institutional capital needed to succeed in today’s competitive market. As firms grow – and bandwidth and budget are less likely to be roadblocks – it can be a challenge to reinvent the wheel and position your firm to capture institutional dollars. During a recent webinar, speakers from EisnerAmper and Eze Castle Integration explored trends in hedge fund operational due diligence and...

The following article originally appeared in Opalesque's Private Equity Strategies. The role of the private equity CTO has changed significantly. New technology along with a growing list of cybersecurity threats have placed more demands on the IT department than ever before. According to a new survey of private equity CTOs from Eze Castle Integration, these demands have led to an evolution in the role of the CTO away from simply maintaining hardware and workflows and into making the CTO...